Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE United States (US) has kept Zimbabwe on a list of countries that are failing to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking amid claims that girls are being traded for sexual exploitation at a large scale.
According to the US Department of State, Zimbabwe did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts to fight the scourge of human trafficking compared with the previous reporting period and this meant the country remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year.
In a statement on the release of the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, secretary of State Marco Rubio said human trafficking was ahorrific and devastating crime that enriched transnational criminal organisations and immoral, anti-American regimes.
“The 25th edition of the Trafficking in Persons Report pushes countries to take serious action against forced labour and sex trafficking and ensures that those who fail to act face consequences,” Rubio said.
“The Trump administration is dedicated to upholding American values, protecting American workers and defending our communities.”
According to the report, significant efforts included identifying more trafficking victims, investigating officials allegedly complicity in trafficking crimes, and signing a memorandum of understanding with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to conduct anti-trafficking training for officials.
“However, the government did not amend its anti-trafficking law to criminalise all forms of trafficking. Reports of low-level official complicity in trafficking crimes persisted,” the report said.
“The government decreased anti-trafficking funding, closed one shelter, and disbanded its six provincial task forces that investigated trafficking and co-ordinated victim services, hindering overall efforts.”
It said human traffickers exploited domestic and foreign victims in Zimbabwe, and traffickers exploited victims from Zimbabwe abroad.
“Internal trafficking is prevalent and under-reported. Traffickers exploit Zimbabwean adults and children in sex trafficking and forced labour, including in cattle herding, domestic service and mining,” the report added.
“Child labour occurs in agriculture, including on tobacco, sugarcane and cotton farms, and on small, unregulated farms, as well as in forestry and fishing.
“Observers reported that unaccompanied children are at risk of exploitation.
“Traffickers force into domestic servitude women and girls from rural areas who move to cities for work.”
The US said economic hardship increased child sex trafficking and child labour, particularly in agriculture, domestic service, informal trading, begging and artisanal mining.
“Observers reported traffickers exploit children, including those with disabilities, in forced begging.
“Some traditional practices make girls vulnerable to forced labour and sex trafficking, including trading daughters for food or money and for ngozi, a reconciliation process in which a family gives a relative to another family to make amends for a murdered relative,” it said.
“Traffickers may exploit in forced labour children working as panners and ore couriers in gold and diamond mines. Illegal mining syndicates exploit Zimbabweans in forced labour.
“Some syndicates target vulnerable populations, including illiterate individuals and transport them to mines at night to disorient them and prevent their escape.
“Traffickers also exploit women and children in sex trafficking around mines, sometimes in exchange for money or food. Sex traffickers exploit some children who sell goods or offer cooking and cleaning services to miners.”
The report indicated that traffickers exploit women and girls in towns bordering South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia in forced labour, including domestic servitude and in sex trafficking in brothels catering to truck drivers.
“Sex traffickers recruit girls as young as 11 from areas surrounding Chiredzi,” it said.
“Traffickers and fraudulent recruiters use false promises of scholarships or employment, particularly in nursing and teaching, including through social media, to lure Zimbabweans into sex trafficking, domestic servitude, forced labour and forced marriage in neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, China and the Middle East.
“In South Africa, traffickers exploit Zimbabweans in forced labour in agriculture, construction, factories, mines, information technology, domestic work and the hospitality industry.
“Zimbabweans abroad, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, trick some Zimbabweans into travelling abroad under the pretences of tourism or legitimate employment, then force them into domestic servitude.
“Traffickers recruit Zimbabwean girls for marriage then once married force them into domestic work.”
The report said Zimbabwe was a transit country for trafficking victims and migrants vulnerable to exploitation, including from Somalia, Ethiopia, Malawi and Zambia, en route to South Africa.
“Zimbabwe is also a destination country for forced labour and sex trafficking. Traffickers subject some Mozambican children to forced labour in street vending, including in Mbare, Harare’s largest informal market.
“Mozambican and Malawian children working on relatives’ farms in Zimbabwe who cannot enrol in school are vulnerable to trafficking,” the report said.
“Refugees and asylum-seekers experience difficulty accessing banking and obtaining identification, which limits employment opportunities and increases their vulnerability to trafficking.”
It said traffickers force some Chinese nationals to work in restaurants in Zimbabwe.
“Construction and mining companies owned by Chinese nationals or Chinese parastatal entities in Zimbabwe reportedly employ practices indicative of forced labour, including verbal, physical and sexual abuse, as well as coercion to induce work in unsafe or otherwise undesirable conditions.
“Chinese parastatal tobacco enterprises exerted political influence to exempt themselves from labour laws and regulation, including mandates pertaining to child and forced labour.
“Media and NGOs report that unscrupulous actors, including Russian officials and illicit recruiters, fraudulently recruited women ages 18-22 from Africa — including Zimbabwe — South Asia and South America for vocational training programmes and subsequently placed them in military drone production sites.
“Media report workers at these sites are subjected to hazardous conditions, surveillance, hour and wage violations, contract switching and worker-paid recruitment fees, all of which are indicators of human trafficking.”
It said North Koreans working in Zimbabwe displayed indicators of forced labour and may have worked under exploitative conditions.
“The Cuban regime may force the 17 Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals in Zimbabwe to work,” it said.
In its prioritised recommendations, the US called on Harare to amend the anti-trafficking law to criminalise all forms of trafficking in line with the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
“Dedicate resources to the Anti-Trafficking Inter-Ministerial Committee and implement the National Plan of Action.
“Using the SOPs and NRM for Vulnerable Migrants in Zimbabwe for victim identification and referral to care, proactively identify and refer to care trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, including orphaned and unaccompanied children, migrant workers, domestic trafficking victims, and Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals, and train stakeholders on the SOPs.
“Increase the availability of protection services, including shelters, for all trafficking victims, including by collaborating with civil society service providers.”
The US further called on Zimbabwe to increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including of complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
“Consistently enforce regulations of labour recruitment companies, including by eliminating worker-paid recruitment fees, holding fraudulent labour recruiters criminally accountable, screening for trafficking during inspections, and implementing SOPs for ethical recruitment,” it said.
The US also called for the expeditious handling of trafficking court cases to eliminate backlogs.
“Adequately fund and provide specialised training to law enforcement, prosecutors and judges to conduct trafficking investigations and prosecutions, using a victim-centred approach.
“Develop mutual legal assistance treaties and other agreements with foreign governments to facilitate information-sharing.
“Collect data on human trafficking trends within Zimbabwe to better inform government anti-trafficking efforts.”
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press
